The Closet
by AppleLass
Summary: Jo wakes up in a closet... with Zane. And can't remember why or how it happened. Will he be forthcoming with the information? Or will he take this opportunity to probe her for more answers? Jo/Zane, season 4.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka or any of the characters.

A/N: So I re-watched "All That Glitters" and decided that the one small snippet of Jo & Zane in the closet wasn't enough. This takes place after "I'll Be Seeing You" and pretends the Zoe-thing has already been resolved.

XXXXX

Jo woke with a killer headache. She reached up to press her palms to her temples, and her arms felt sore. Like she had been in combat. Her entire body stilled as, with her eyes still closed, she assessed her situation.

She was seated, on a floor. Her muscles felt tight, so she had apparently been that way for some time. Her head hurt, and there was a dull ache in her ribs. Other than a few bruises, she sensed no major injuries.

She was still wearing clothing. And her boots. Her shoulders felt a brief puff of air, so she had lost her jacket. And the smell... it smelled of Zane. She strained her senses, listening for him, and she heard soft breathing. He was here with her too. She did not hear anyone else, and decided to risk a peek.

Her army training had kicked in so she was prepared for the dim light. She was in a small room, and light spilled in from under the door. Without moving her head, her eyes found Zane. He was watching her, also seated on the floor.

"Where are we?" Jo whispered.

Zane moved, and in an instant bright blue light poured down onto them. Jo's eyes shut involuntarily, but when she opened it took her only a split second to evaluate the situation. They were in a closet. Not just any closet, but the closet in S.A.R.A.H.

"What's going on, Zane?"

"Are you telling me you don't remember, Jo?" His voice was tinged with skepticism, as well as a little hope.

"Zane, I have no idea why or how I got here. The last thing I remember..." She winced against the throbbing in her skull that felt like it was scrambling her brains for breakfast. "I remember going down to the GD airfield for some sort of test. I stopped at Cafe Diem on the way, for breakfast, then I got in my car and drove straight to the airfield."

"Jo... you flipped out, hijacked the SkyCruiser, with me still on it, mind you, and demanded blueberry pancakes."

"Blueberry pancakes?" Something about that was familiar. As if it should remind her of something and it did not. But the rest of it was ridiculous. She would never do that.

"Yeah, Jo. Pancakes. Then when we got back here you insisted we hide in the closet, the whole time telling me you were afraid of the dark."

"I'm not afraid of the dark," she whispered. But she use to be. Her mother had just died, and even though she had been afraid of the dark, she had run to it, sleeping in closets or under beds, hoping she could go to where her mother was. She had associated the dark with whatever had taken her mother. Eventually she had outgrown her fear of the dark, likely because she had spent so much time in it.

"I figured that out about a minute ago when you stopped rocking back and forth and went still. And then rational Jo returned."

"Okay..." She had to think. To make sense of it. Her face had been stolen before... but had her body? Electronic waves and pheromones had made her act strange before, but had she ever forgotten it all? "Lets assume that my body was taken over by someone or something. Think Zane, what could it have wanted?"

"Besides blueberry pancakes?" he joked. But then his face grew serious, and stopped meeting her eyes. "Beyond that... it sounded like you wanted to have a good time."

"Great. Something decides to take my body out for a joyride."

"It's okay, Jo. When you started acting strange, and then more people did, Carter and I were able to track it back." Zane reached out a hand towards her, and Jo froze. She watched his movement with her eyes, and tried not to move an inch when he moved a piece of her usually impeccably tidy hair behind her ear.

"What caused it?" she asked, licking her lips and trying to remain focused on the ... thing... that had taken over her body.

"We're still not sure. Carter is running what we think caused it back to GD - a new piece of cooking equipment Vincent had in Cafe Diem. Only you and other patrons this morning were affected. You... regressed. Into the child you used to be.

"I don't understand."

"You were still you, Jo... just you acted as if you were 15 or 20 years younger. Including challenging Carter to a wrestling match, which you won by the way, and convincing me to take you for a ride on the SkyCruiser for pancakes."

She shook her head, not to deny what he was saying but because she felt like there was a bigger issue out there to be solved, bigger than piecing together her missing memory. "Zane, don't you think they need you more at GD? Figuring this out?"

He looked back up at her intently as if the answer was written on her forehead. She resisted the urge to wipe at her face. "Hello? Earth to Zane?"

"You asked me not to go, Jo. You asked me not to leave you alone in the dark. And you said you loved me."

She swallowed. Hard. "I guess you have a way with kids, huh?"

"You wouldn't tell me why, JoJo. You said it was a secret." Zane scooted himself along the floor closer to her, his thigh brushing hers, his face closer than she trusted herself to be. "And you told me that if I stayed here, in the dark with you, you'd tell me."

"You're joking." She as was almost begging for it to be true. She rolled her eyes back, wishing, hoping, she had not revealed more than she should have.

"I'm not. And I stayed. I stayed right here, right where I want to be. I think they can solve this mystery on their own this time, don't you?" He took her hand, and looked at it for a while before looking up at her.

"Zane..." her mouth opened and closed once, twice. She struggled with the words. "I'm not allowed to tell you. Not the specifics, anyway."

"So generalize. Imply. Use metaphors, I don't care. But there's something you wanted, needed, to tell me, and I'm here. I am not leaving until you do."

Jo considered getting up herself. Dealing with this was too much right now; she was not handling the loss of her memory well, the sense of responsibility towards the crisis, or the fear of telling Zane what was going on.

As if sensing her hesitancy, Zane suddenly leaned forward and the air and space between them disappeared. Their lips found each others, and it took a full minute before Jo's brain clicked back on and she realized that this was crazy. She pulled back to tell him so, but he put his fingertips to her lips.

"Listen, JoJo. I don't know what this entirely is about, but you have two options. You can either tell me what's going on between us, or we can go back to kissing."

She loved that cocky smile of his. Jo flashed back to their make-out session in this very closet during a party Zoe had thrown... in the old timeline. Jo pulled Zane close, pressing her lips to his, trying to reclaim that feeling. Maybe she could pretend for a little while.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka, the town, or the people.

A/N: I may have watched 'Your Face or Mine' recently...

XXXXX

The closet door threw open and bright light illuminated the entwined pair. Jo heard a groan, and lifted her eyes to see Carter's outline in the doorway.

"Not again. Seriously, Jo?"

"Hey Carter." She smiled weakly.

"And you, Zane! Taking advantage of her when she's like this!"

Before Jo could correct him, Zane did. "No no, she snapped out of it. She's no longer being infected."

Carter looked between the two of the, eyebrows raised. Jo spoke up, clearing her throat self-consciously. "He's right. About ten or fifteen minutes ago... or so," she added, taking a quick peek at the smug smile, "I awoke with no prior memory to why or how I got here." She motioned to the closet around her.

"Teenage shenanigans aside," the Sheriff hurried on, "that could mean that some of the others are coming around as well. We might be able to get more information out of Vincent if he's back to normal. Jo... stay here. I need to go find Vincent."

"Want me to come along?" Zane's voice definitely could have been more enthused about the idea. Part of Jo wanted him to go so she could collect her thoughts, but another part just wanted to wrap herself around him again.

"No... stay here with Jo. Let me know if she starts acting weird again. Well... the other kind of weird."

Carter shook his head and closed the door, muttering something to himself about kids. As he left, the motion light in the closet automatically shut off, plunging them back into almost darkness.

When Jo turned back to Zane, she could make out a mulish expression on his face. "What?"

"Who was it?" At her confused look, he continued. "Who were you making out with last? or in a closet with last?"

"Zane... what are you talking about?"

"Carter. He said 'Not again,' as if you had been in this situation before. I don't know if I like the idea of you being with someone else. In here, I mean."

"Zane, this is ridiculous-"

"Yeah, maybe. But I still want to know who."

"You! Okay? It was you, Zane!" Jo tried to get away from him, scooting away, trying to stand. But he held his grip on her arms. She knew she could break away if she really wanted to, but she waited.

"I don't remember that, JoJo." He looked in to her eyes, searching for answers.

"You don't remember a lot of the last two years, Zane."

"Then tell me, please."

Jo was tired. Tired of lying to Zane, of trying to put on a different face with him. Tired of trying to pretend the last two years of her life, of their relationship, had never existed.

"You've forgotten good dates and bad dates, Zane. Laundry days and making up after fights. Of the numerous times one of us was sick or about to die. I can't even remember how many times we've had to say goodbye thinking it was for the last time. Except when it really was... I couldn't say anything at all."

Tears had begun to collect in the lower lids of her eyes, and she looked up at the ceiling, trying to blink them away.

"I'm right here, Jo. I didn't leave."

"How can you be the same person when you can't remember the experiences that shaped us?"

"Then show me. I know for a fact that Henry has been testing out some memory recall transmitter technology with his wife. He's been doing the same thing, hasn't he? Been catching up on a lifetime's worth of memories."

"It's not the same, Zane."

"Of course it is, JoJo. Grace still loves Henry the same way she did before because he is the same person. It didn't take them long to patch up their relationship, did it? Why won't you give me a chance?"

Jo finally turned back to him, asking desperately "Why do you want this life so bad? Why?"

"Because I'm crazy about you JoJo, and always have been. And if this was a life I had once, and fought for, I'm not about to let you give it up so easily."

"But... it's so much more complicated than just us, Zane."

"I have time, Jo. I'll get clearance or whatever you want me to do. I'll pass a test - I do test well, despite my lack of study skills. I just... can't handle any more of the lies, Jo."

"I hate telling them," she whispered.

Zane kissed her forehead and slowly Jo let her head rest down on his shoulder. "You're still a felon," she murmured into his shirt.

"Come on, lets get you up."

"Carter told us to stay here," Jo reminded him, but allowing him to help her rise anyway.

"Yeah, but he didn't say we had to stay in the darkness." He smiled at her, and for the first time in a long while she felt like she was able to really smile back the way she used to.

Zane pushed the release on the side of the door, and they stepped out into the light.


End file.
